


He Whose Slaves We Are

by StoriesWhispered



Category: From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series
Genre: F/M, Time Loop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2020-05-31 10:11:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19423852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StoriesWhispered/pseuds/StoriesWhispered
Summary: One minute Seth is driving far and fast away from this particular hell, the next he’s in a jail cell.AKA - it starts with a jailbreak and ends with Seth Gecko in a time loop.





	He Whose Slaves We Are

**Author's Note:**

> So I've been clearing out my google docs and stumbled upon like 10 unfinished fics 7 for T100 and 3 for FDTD, this by far was the most complete. Not going to lie this has been in there for about 2 years, give or take and this is the first draft, un-edited or beta in any way shape or form. Posting it to because I was never going to go back and finish it. With that said, good luck and happy reading!

Day 0: 7:02 AM - Twenty miles past Zaragoza, Mexico

Seth starts slowing down the car, they needed provisions and a plan, possibly a map if they could score one. Kate had been mostly silent since leaving the Twister, the horror muted in the Mexican sun, but he could feel it crowding them both. 

He wondered if they could ever really get far enough away, his eyes kept bouncing from the clock to the mileage log, they had been traveling a little over an hour, clocking in an impressive eighty kilometers, and it still felt like the bloodsuckers were hairsbreadth away. 

A billboard boasted a gas station in the next exit and he knew he’d have to stop, his knuckles white on the wheel, he spoke for the first time in since they had picked a car.

“You hungry,” he grunted as he merged to the right lane. 

“I could eat,” her voice was soft but steady. 

He nodded and said no more, a part of him, wanted to turn them around and leave her at the border but he wasn’t sure he could actually let her go. 

Not when Richie, his own flesh and blood, had taken a bite out of him and told him he tasted like shit. 

Left him after everything. 

Seth could feel the need to drown himself, in booze, in drugs, in anything that could make him forget, pulsing in his mind. 

But first, he’d have to put as much distance as he could between that bar and himself and Kate.

7:28 AM - PEMEX Gas Station, Allende, Coahuila Mexico 

Seth had his eyes closed, leaning on the car as Kate left in search of food and a map when he felt it, a sharp tug on his feet, he tried jerking away but he went down instead, head crashing hard onto the cracked concrete. His vision went blurry and then dark, his last thought of Kate walking towards him. 

~~~~

Day 1: 7:30 AM - Kansas State Prison

“Up and at ‘em, Gecko.” 

The familiar greeting was accompanied by the jangling of keys, “Trials today, Warden said you can’t be late.”

Seth was up in an instant, body almost tripping over itself to get steady, dark eyes tracked the six by eight cell that had been his home for the last five years. 

This is wrong, Seth thought and the next second, where’s Kate? 

The young guard, oblivious to Seth’s distress, was going over his hearings procedure, what was expected of him. Internally freaking out, he was handed his suit to change into and led away to the courthouse, he felt himself remember yesterday or today, as it would seem. 

The obvious answer was that he died in the Twister, he had gone to Purgatory, failed and gone been sent to Hell. 

As his brother appeared, in broad daylight, busting him out of the courthouse at driving away to Albine, where the bonds were, Seth wondered if he was meant to relive the worst day of his life forever. That seemed like a fitting hellish punishment for all of his crimes. 

Richie, being human was nice, he could enjoy that and try to forget he wouldn't be by the end of the night. 

It wasn't until they're at the bank, that he realized he could change the days' events. He hadn’t tried before, mostly accepting his endless torture as the punishment it was, but when he stopped his brother from cold clocking Mr. Milburn, he feels his world tilt. 

The robbery goes smoothly, Mr. Milburn knowing the combination saves them time and trouble but they still take him as the hostage instead of Monica. 

Seth refuses to stop for provisions at Benny’s World of Liquor, instead, he keeps driving, insisting that they don't need a map. Richie wants to go to the Dew Drop Inn, Seth also refuses instead pulling into the Red Flag Motel, he won't drag Kate into if he can help it. 

He also does not go to meet Vanessa, instead, he cocoons Mr. Milburn in duct tape. Richie, for the most part, stares at him like he’s insane but watches his cartoons in silence. 

If he can change things then he can beat the system. He's a thief and con-man, he can beat hell, claw his way out. 

Seth wonders if he’s still in the God’s temple when Richie and he start planning to cross the border like they used to. Richie hasn’t killed anyone yet, Vanessa, Kate, and Monica are safe; he gets cocky and when Richie plunges his knife into Milburn's chest Seth realizes he’s still in hell. 

He can't stop Richie from leaving, he wants the room to think of an escape plan, he comes back with the RV filled with the Fullers. 

“It's perfect brother, they were just pulling in,” Richie says like the world hadn't just become brimstone and fire. 

Seth wonders if he can convince him not to go the Twister, tries the entire way to the border but realizes it's futile. Despite the changes he was allowed to make, he can't change the big ones. Richie is ever determined to get to the Twister, visions of the snake queen fueling him. 

He tries to let the Fullers leave once they get to the Twister, refusing to look at any one of them in the eye but Richie won't let them go. He looks at Kate then, who's been staring at him for a while, suddenly struck by inspiration he pulls her away from her family. 

“Do you remember yesterday,” he demands, practically shaking her. 

“Umm, yes,” but she looks too scared, not the girl who fought vampires and lost her what was left of her family in one night. 

He let her go back to her father, wondered if part of his hell was watching her lose her entire family in one night. A different kind of torture than watching Richie walk away was watching Kate walk towards him. 

He let the rest of the night played out, and feels like ripping out his heart when Richie leaves with the Snake Queen and Kate is standing outside, waiting for him. 

~~~

Seth tries to beat the system, trick the God’s for a week. 

He learns two things, the Fuller’s will always run into them; regardless of the motel, eatery, gas stations, and one time they made it all the way to the border before they find the RV. 

Second, he can never get out of going into the temple. One way or another he always has to face the maze. 

he tells Richie everything that's been happening. His brother believes him and they try not to go to the temple. Carlos finds them, other culebras find them, or they die. 

The first time he's torn to shreds by culebras he’s relieved when he wakes up the next morning in that cell. 

It loses its charm around the eighteenth time, he stops telling Richie and just lets them get to The Twister naturally. 

It goes on like that for months, some days he saves Monica, other times when he's tired he lets Richie take her. On those days he appreciates his time with Vanessa like it's his last day on earth, and it kills him when she doesn't remember it the next time he sees her. 

On day ninety, he stops seeing her altogether, which in turn makes him save Monica every time they go to the bank. He’s getting better at saving Milburn too when he puts in the effort. 

When he wants to spice it up, they go to Beer World, just to see the Ranger. 

Other times he's the one that goes to get Kate from the pool, it's nice to talk to her one on one. Sometimes he asks her favorite movie and color instead of about her family, he apologizes a lot those days. 

He starts to look forward to that precious hour before the clock resets. He drives in different directions every day, discovering new places every day. 

On day 178 they play Go Fish with Scott and he learns that her favorite band is a Christian Rock band, Relient K and Scott’s is Led Zeppelin. 

A week later, after they’ve escaped the bar, she tells him about stacking her own father, he pulls over early and holds her as she sobs, his gaze on the dash; He apologizes as their last minute ticks away. 

The next day he spends with Jacob. They talk about everything from his wife's death and his list of faith to the best country star. When Kate climbs into his car, she's smiling up at him and it's hard for him the next day when she doesn't remember to smile at him. 

He waits and spends the next three months changing nothing, he watches his brother kiss the preacher's daughter for ninety days straight. 

Finally, he talks to Scott instead, talks about comics and family, gets him to crack a smile when he says he hates the Star Wars franchise. 

Kate gets turned that day, Scott shoots him outside of the Twister, he smiles as he dies. 

~~~

Day 217: 7:30 AM - Kansas State Prison  
When he wakes up in his cell the next morning, he has a new plan. 

They don't take a hostage at the bank, he lets himself get shot by the cops, laughs as he goes down. 

Or he is until he hears his brother shout out, the sound is painful, filled with anguish and rage. He hears the constant barrage of bullets flying, and then he's in his brother's arm, being hauled into a car. 

“What the fuck Seth-”

His vision blurs and clears.

“Don't go, don't leave me-”

That's my line, he tries to say but it's mostly blood that comes up. 

The last thing he sees is his brother's face, blue eyes filled with tears, face bloody. 

“Love you,” he manages before it's too much.

He wakes up in his cell. 

~~~

For a week he lets himself be killed, by the Ranger or cops it doesn't matter, he never dies quick enough. His brothers' tear-filled eyes are always the last thing he sees. 

He tries to kill himself in his cell before Richie can break him out; wakes up in the prison hospital, the news about Richie’s rampage playing on the radio. 

He spends the rest of the day in silence, his wrist throbbing until mercifully the nurse knocks him out with pain meds. 

He stops trying to die, then. 

~~~

He spends the next four months hanging out with his brother like it's not the most painful thing on the planet. 

They reminisce about school and movies about jobs they've pulled and jobs they want to pull. Everyday before they enter the Twister, Seth tells him he loves him and watches his eyes light up. 

It gets easier to let him go with the snake bitch. 

~~~

Day 506: 3:26 PM - The Dew Drop Inn

He’s lost track of how long he’s been trapped in this hell before something changes. 

Kate's not with Fuller's when they crash into their motel room. 

He looks for in the pool and all around the room, but she's not there. 

When he gets back, almost frantic with the change of pace, Scott tells him, she left with her boyfriend. 

It's the most irrational thought he's ever had, right next to thinking getting married in Vegas was a good thing but he wants to go after her. 

Wants to beat the life out of this stupid boy who took her, she's supposed to be here, in this hell with him. 

Eventually, the fight leaves him and he goes along with the incomplete family to the Twister. 

He thinks about starting a fight with doorman, a habit he broke sometime last year, just to feel something. He doesn't, but it's a close call, and instantly regrets it when he walks in the Twister and Kate’s there. 

She's on stage, dancing. 

His heart stops, because he knows, she's been turned. He steals her away for a dance before her father can see her. 

“Why Kate?”

He pushes her off his lap, she smirks, eyes a terrifying bright yellow.

“Carlos wanted you to be comfortable, Seth-” she shimmies, “aren't you looking for paradise?”

He stakes her before she can finish her dance. 

Takes his gun and blows his brains out. 

~~~

He stops at Beer World the next day, calling Carlos in the restroom, something he hadn't done in over a year. 

The conversation flows almost exactly the same, he’s rusty but when he finds Kate at the pool later he knows he did the right thing. 

He spends the day with her, he had been neglecting her, he’d forgotten that she was broken too. 

He talks to her like they’ve been friends for years like she remembers the last hellish five hundred or so days. 

She’s not waiting for him outside, he instantly goes back into the temple to look for her.

Seth finds her in the tunnels, looking for Scott.

She tells him that she loves her brother no matter what he is because she loves who he is, all why staring meaningfully at his bite marks. 

He reaches for her, he's not sure for what, just shy of touching her, he pulls back, the sound of hissing reaching them. 

The drive they talk about classic movies she watched with Scott, and he watched with Richie. 

The next day he steals a portable DVD player from a parked car and watches Groundhog Day with Scott and Kate in the back of the RV. 

He ignores his brother and Jacobs stares. 

A year later he tells Kate everything that's about to happen the moment he gets her alone. 

She believes him after he tells her a few anecdotes of her when she asks how he knows; he tells her you told me. And feels like he’s a stupid time travel movie. 

She sticks by his side and goes with him to the temple when it's time. 

~~~

It's getting closer to four years of reliving the same day and Seth is getting comfortable in his hell. 

He always gets horchata with his brothers' correct tacos. The bank robbery is down, there in and out of bank five minutes before the cops arrive. It eliminates the need for a hostage and makes Richie relieve their best heist with a smile. 

He skips Beer World and Vanessa altogether and waits for the Fuller’s to arrive in the motel room. 

He goes to Kate in the pool, and they talk before they make their way perfectly calm into the RV. 

The drive is smooth, he stays with Kate, Richie with Scott and Jacob drives like a model citizen.

They make it to the Twister early and he spends a minute having a conversation with Jacob. By the end of their in-depth conversation, Jacob confesses everything to his children while he stays by the door and Richie watches them. 

“What was that?”

“You're not the only one who sees, brother.”

Richie watches him with sad eyes before they break up the family moment and make their way inside. 

The bonds taped on him, he still manages to break the doorman's nose when he approaches Kate. 

He keeps her close and tells her that she can't leave but she can have some liquid courage. 

“Why do I need courage?” She looks so innocent at that moment, looking up at him with bright green eyes, shot of whiskey dangling from her fragile fingers. 

“It's going to be a long night, Katie.”

She leans up to kiss him and he freezes for a moment because she’s never done this before.   
Her lips are soft and warm as they move against his, and it's over too soon. brief but powerful, Seth wants it every day for the rest of his damned days.

She pulls back, uncertain and a bit mortified but she doesn't run away, the brave princess. 

He smiles down at her and she smiles back tentatively, he hands her a knife, he mutters, “for protection.”

Before he strategically places himself next to one of wobbly tall tables, he learned early on made great stakes. 

Santanico comes out like usual and he watches as his brothers face becomes enraptured, feels the usual pang of sadness. 

But smiles at his brother, soft and slow, when he asked if he can see her, too. 

“Yeah, brother, she’s real, it's okay.”

The doorman walks into the bar and Richie is back on the clock. 

“Remember Philly, brother? That heist in Rittenhouse Square?”

Richie nods, the face was drawn in taut, eyes bright with suspicion but his fingers on the trigger and that's all Seth needs before it begins. 

With easy access to the table, Seth manages to stake ten Culebras before Richie gets with the program and aims towards the heart. 

He sees Kate and Scott, back to back, covering each other like they’ve been doing it for years. 

It goes on for less than five minutes before Santanico screeches for order; her girls flee and most of the bar patrons sag in relief. 

She reaches for Richard and like most nights he seems fascinated but wary, Seth steps up.

“It's okay, brother, go, you know you want to, I’ll be fine,” he won't and they both know it.

Richie brings their foreheads together, a brief moment of peace before he straightens up and follows the girl away. 

Seth turns back to the bar patrons, “the ones bitten will turn-” he motions to the pile of table legs tuned stakes, “please shove of these into their hearts.” 

He finds the Fuller’s after that, keeping a close eye on Kate; days that went as good today tended to end up with her being hurt, he wasn't feeling too cocky about today. 

“All Right ramblers, let's get ramblin.”

The family turns to him like he’s grown an extra head.

“I don't believe in vampires but I think it's clear to say that we just fought vampires, Jacob we just had a talk about faith, Katie you got your momma’s cross on, and Scott there's a shotgun underneath the bar, vampires cannot grow a second head so aim accordingly.”

It's Jacob who nods, shakes his hand before nodding at him, Seth takes his hand as a sign to continue. 

“Santanico orders will hold for a moment, but their hungry and she's distracted by my brother they’ll come back, so weapons check and then we gotta move.”

He learned the hard way not to trust the other bikers and truckers; without fail someone who'd been bitten did not disclose that information and it came back to their decimation every time. 

So as soon as the Fullers were armed, he shuffled them towards the back, his feet tracing a familiar path. 

Stopping by Major Frost to pick up supplies was always on the agenda. Despite living the same day over and over again, this one aspect never changed, they always got a shopping spree. 

Seth went to his favorite boxes as Kate talked to the former soldier. Sometimes he would stay, other times he would follow them, one time he actually made it out with them. But Kate always talked to him, something about her could never let it go. 

They left a few moments later, armed to the teeth, Seth led them to his favorite alcove, handing Kate her preferred crossbow, not that she remembered. 

It was a tight fit but they had a great vantage point, and more than once they had managed to stay there for a whole four and a half hours. Seth tried to remember if he had shot Tanner, he's the one who usually found them and led them to the sacrificial tomb. 

He watches Kate and Scott silently communicate with matching facial expressions, usually, it was about him. But he didn't worry, Kate never let Scott kill him, she fought for every life, including his. 

It was actually boring once they were safe, but Seth liked these days the best, the days that when his brother found him, less guilty, less unstable. 

Seth eyes would bounce from Kate to his watch, to the small doorway - Kate, watch, doorway, Kate, watch, doorway, Kate, watch, doorway - until the hours passed and finally he could hear his brothers' familiar steps. 

Carefully stepping in front of the Fullers, weapon drawn, he reaches the doorway silently. 

It's his brothers face that peeks in, and Seth smiles, four hours and forty-two minutes, a new record. 

He turns back to the Fullers, “we’ll be out soon,-” he taps on Jacob’s watch, “If I'm not back in two hours you get to back up top and make holes in the wall, get to sunlight.”

He waits until he gets a nod before his eyes slide to Scott, he gives him a two finger salute and Seth grins.

Finally, he gets to Kate, she's stepping up and hugging him before he can react, her lips graze his stubbly cheek, a quiet, “be careful,” and then she's gone back behind her brother. 

He's smiling as he follows his brother, who's looking at him like he's the one who gets visions from ancient snake vampires. 

“Shut up, Richie.”

“I didn't even say anything.”

Seth shoves him into the crumbling wall, “yeah yeah, at least my girl doesn't have fangs.” 

~~~

The bar is mostly destroyed, Seth briefly wonders if Frost made it up with the grenades. On the bright side, Richie has made it the whole night without being turned, his girlfriend is waiting behind him in the shadows. 

“You know it's okay, Richie, I’m not mad.”

“I can go with her and not be turned.”

Seth squashed the flare of hope in his chest, “do whatever you want,” he says sincerely, “just check in with me, yeah?”

Richie watches him like he's waiting for an explosion, “Are you okay?” 

Seth almost laughs, but he reigns it in, glancing at his watch. 

“I’m fine, brother.” And he is, this is one of his better nights, and he's been taking notes, he thinks he can shave some time of cracking the safe if he can beat his old man just a little bit faster. 

Richie studies him for a moment before wrapping him up in a hug, “I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Real soon,” Seth says, his own private joke. 

He watches them walk away, melting into the lingering darkness, with a smile. 

He reaches the door and finds Kate waiting for him. 

“You want some company?”

“Yeah.”

Her answering smile is blinding, Seth takes a moment to appreciate it, wonders if he can recreate this night again, just for that smile. 

“Grab your stuff, I’ll find us a car.”

~~~~

7:29 AM - PEMEX Gas Station, Allende, Coahuila Mexico

Seth usually lays down in the backseat of the car, it's an easier transition to waking up if he's already lying down. 

He's dozing lightly, knowing it's coming and waiting for the familiar southern drawl.

“Up and at ‘em, Gecko, I found us a map and food.”

His eyes snap open, he finds Kate looking down at him, hands laden with bags. 

“I want to go to the beach,” she says as she starts organizing the bags. 

He scrambles up, pulling her into his lap and hugging her close. He can feel her squirm, adjust herself a bit before she relaxes against him. 

“you’re real,” he whispers, petting her hair. 

He's breathing in her familiar scent, sweet vanilla, sweat, and the Mexican air. When he looks down at her again, she's smiling that smile again.

“Of course I am.” 

10:39 PM - Cuidad Victoria, Tamaulipas, Mexico

Seth managed to get them three hours from the beach before he was done with driving, despite Kate’s assurances that she was good to drive, he convinces her to stop driving by three in the afternoon. 

Now, motel room booked and the promise that they’ll be at the beach tomorrow, Seth can’t sleep. Kate had crashed almost immediately after settling down, her gaze lingered on his gun before swung up to his face, she drifted off with a small smile. 

It almost broke Seth to see her so trusting, and even with exhaustion clawing at down on his eyelids, he still couldn’t sleep, not when he could possibly wake up in jail cell. He wouldn’t survive and he knows it, he let his brother go to many times, dragged this girl through hell, and if tomorrow they don't remember it, he’s just drive a cliff and be done with it. 

So, he disarms his guns, cleans and arms it, again and again. Ever so often he looks at the time but never for long, his eyes focus on Kate sleeping form, burrowed so deep in scratchy sheets, clearly exhausted by the day's events. 

Sometime during the day, as the sun falls away and darkness creeps across the horizon, Seth plans a small heist, things they’ll need to survive a while in Mexico, Kate would need a gun. He knows she’s fond of the crossbow, and the knife he gave her is tucked underneath the pillow, but robbing banks with a crossbow would be a little too much, and she wouldn't do much damage with a knife. 

She would definitely need a gun, he thinks, and instantly scolds himself, no point in planning things that are not going to happen. 

Sufficiently Chastised, he sighs, decides to move to the bed, he’s tired of sitting and laying down wouldn’t hurt. 

Day: 0 - 7:35 AM - Cuidad Victoria, Tamaulipas, Mexico

He wakes up to humming, it’s off-key and it’s that awful song Mexican pop song that he didn’t understand but heard at least four times while driving down.

“Come on Seth, the beach is three hours away!”

He sits up, rubbing his eyes, “Yeah, Katie, breakfast?”

“They said there was a restaurant next door.” 

He doesn’t answer, he’s staring at his watch, when he finally looked up, he’s smiling. 

She’s dressed in the same clothes from yesterday and she’s looking at him expectantly, like she’s already tired of his shit, it’s the best thing that he’s ever seen. 

“Alright, alright, breakfast and then you need new clothes and maybe a gun.”

She smiles at him, bright and Seth can’t wait to see, again and again, everyday, tomorrow and the next day.


End file.
